The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-02-26
Regenerating a Farm.

Three years ago thrifty old Ger
man purchased farm OF eighty acres
in an adjoining township. 1t was
farm that for about twelve years had
undergone such course of misman-
agement and abuse as had almost
ruined it. 1t was in about the worst
possible condition, but the wise old
man knew what was beneath the un-
promising surface and at once pro-
ceeded to put it in trim for his daugh-
ter and prospective son-in-law. 1t
was surrounded by an Usage orange
hedge fifteen to twenty teet high,
with gaps in it three to five feet wide
stopped up with rotten rails in ouch
a manner as to offer special induce
ments to stock of all kinds to pass
through and devour or demolish
what little grew upon the land. He
began the campaign very early in the
Spring by attacking this hedge, and
great was the curiosity of the neigh-
bors to know how he would proceed
to make an effective fence out Of 1t.
He cut it all off close to the ground
with the exception of stubs eight or
ten feet apart which were left strung
with four barDed wires, the lowest s
inches from the ground and thsi
others ten inches apart. From the
stump of the old hedge there sprang
up thick and vigorous growth of
thOrny shoots, which were trimmed
up on both sides and guided into the
gaps and twisted among the wires in
such manner as to make one con-
tinu0us, close hedge. When this
new growth attained the height Of
the stubs it was topped, which caused
it to thicken up and branch out among
the wires. By the LIST of September
he had combined hedge and fence
that was smooth and bull-proof and
almost chicken tight. AS a boundary
fence it can hardly be exceiied. 1t
is is pig tight and with judicious
trimming will remain 80 for years.
with no repairs other than the annual
pruning.
Through this farm ran what is
called here "branch, a cut or gully
three to six feet deep and thirty to
fifty feet wide, in a shallow ravine
which was filed with coarse grass,
bushes and gigantic weeds, and so
miry as to be impossible during the
greater part of the year. The old
gentleman laid fourinch tile four
feet deep down the centre of this,
broke up the sod and with harrow
and drag cut and ground it down
fine, smootbed the rough edges of
the gully and then sewed it with
timothy, red top and clover. AS
result the branch can be crossed any
where at any time of the year, and
the second year after it was tiled he
cut enough hay out OF. it to pay the
entire cost of the tile. In the lower
corner of the farm, where the ranch
made its exit, WAS about five acres of
rough, bushy land that had never
been cultivated. The crab trees were
cut down, fence built around it, q
cheap shed erected and a lot of sheep
turned on. In addition to what they
could obtain among the brush they
received one feed of hay per day.
The outlet of the tile land in the
branch ran into the end of long
trough and kept them supplied with
pure running water the year round.
In two years they almost extermi-
nated the brush and now they have
been superseded by lot of pigs.
without rings in their noses. and
they are literally turning the sod and
remaining brush upside down. Next
year that lot can he fitted for wheat
about as easily as any portion of the
farm and it will yield fully iorty
bushels per acre.
The son-in-Iaw is as thrifty and in
telligent as the old gentleman, and
he has brought that farm up from
what was an eyesOre and Flemish
on the face of the earth to be n model
for an agricultural college. Christian
County, I'LL.